how gymnast Jon Horton proposed

Olympic Horizontal Bar medalist — some feel it should have been GOLD medalist — Jonathan Horton goes BIG.

No doubt about that.

But lost in the anticipation of the Olympics was the story of how he proposed to longtime girlfriend Haley DeProspero:

“She didn’t know it was coming,” he said, grinning.

Who could blame her?

Horton asked DeProspero to marry him between the two biggest meets of his life, the U.S. Championships and the Olympic trials. Both were part of qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.

Not exactly a time you’d expect a big-time contender to make a life-altering decision. Then again, Horton and DeProspero have always juggled their sport and their relationship. …

spart-a3hortondog_08-03-2008_U68FVG8.jpg

Click through to read the entire romantic gymnastics fairy tale: Horton had more than Olympic rings on his mind – NewsOK

(via Gymblog)

strength training with Edouard Iarov

by site editor Rick McCharles

Iarov was the coach of Valeri Liukin. And is currently the National Coach of the Canadian Men’s Gymnastics Team.

He’s a genius coach, though often very controversial. I’ve been much influenced by his coaching philosophy.

At a training camp for age group gymnasts, I took photos and notes. Here are a few sample drills:

parallel-bar-dips.jpg

Endo-roll.jpg

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much more information, many more photos on my report – Iarov Training Camp, December 2001, Montreal

traveling rings – photos

MUTINY ON THE RINGS is the best photoset on flickr of traveling rings.

I’ve linked to it before. But they keep adding new pics.

swing-and-skip-rings.jpg

Bruno-Angelico-traveling-rings.jpg
larger original – flickr

see all their photos – MUTINY ON THE RINGS

related post: DVD – Wild Rings – very COOL

Cirque Wintuk returns to New York

The experimental seasonal Cirque du Soleil show Wintuk is returning for a second winter season at Madison Square Gardens.

Featuring a good deal of street acrobatics, the show’s been updated with a Power Track.

It runs October 29, 2008 thru January. 4, 2009.

Wintuk.jpg

Wintuk – home page

gymnastics videos – teaching Geinger

A couple of samples from the excellent American Gymnast Gymnastics on Demand series.

Click PLAY or watch Learning a Gienger – Spotting Technique on Gymnast.com.
http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/Gienger/230-03-spot.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

This is a difficult spot. Easier is to slide big mats over the bar as the gymnast releases. (Be careful not to push too soon.)

Click PLAY or watch Learning a Gienger – Missed vs. Caught Giengers on Gymnast.com.
http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/Gienger/230-04-miss-catch.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

Hey, Gymnast videos have short ads now in advance of the “good stuff”.

I’m OK with that. Sites need some sort of revenue steam … or they will not survive.

superhuman Olympic athletes

To me, these two athletes were the most impressive at the Beijing Olympics:

Michael Phelps
Phelps1.jpg

Usain Bolt
Bolt.jpg

His coach said Usain could have run the 100m in 9.52 seconds instead of 9.69 seconds if he had only run through the finish line as he did in the 200m.

One gymnast that comes to mind as comparing (slightly) with Michael and Usain is two-time World Champion Dmitry Bilozerchev.

Bilozerchev.jpg

When he won World’s in 1983 at age-17, there had never been a prodigy like him. It seemed impossible at the time.

Whatever happened to …

gymnastics birthday party games

Recently I posted about the DVD available from Gymnastics Games guru Dave Adlard.

This brand new video is specific for birthday party games:

Birthday-party-games.jpgLearn how to run birthday parties at your gym. It’s a great way to get your gyms name out there and rake in some new students! Get some exciting ideas for games you can play. Come join the fun and get the party started with non-elimination games, fitness games, cooperative games, tag games, parachute games, relay and free play games.

Click on the RECREATION link on the GymSmarts home page to see the details of this and other resources.

great Aussie athlete photo

Australian athletes based in WA (Western Australia) – Dasha Joura, Lauren Mitchell (gymnasts), Todd Skipworth (rower), Kobi McGurk (hockey). Rear: Reece Baker (kayak), Paul Burgess (pole vault), Kim Mickel (javelin), Steve Hooker (pole vault).

Aussie-WAIS-athletes.jpg
original – Picture: THEO FAKOS

Makes you realize just how small gymnasts are.

best Aussie gymnasts ever

Starting on Gymblog. Continuing on the Australian Gymnastics Blog is a discussion of the best Australian gymnasts of all time.

What do you think?

1. Longevity – Lisa Skinner

2. Most Decorated – Allana Slater

3. Highest Achiever – Philippe Rizzo

4. Innovator – Tie. Trudy McIntosh and Dasha Joura

Dasha.jpg
news.com.au

Simply the Best

Click through to add your comments.

related: 10 things that should have happened during the Olympics… and didn’t – Gymblog